Russian Resurrection Film Festival chooses quality over quantity

Kolya (Semyon Treskunov) falls in love with his teacher in The Good Boy.

THIS year’s Russian Resurrection Film Festival is a case of quality over quantity, according to festival director Nicholas Maksymow.

The festival returns November 10 to Cinema Paradiso featuring films from a range of genres, from contemporary comedies and psychological thrillers, to love stories set in the picturesque mountains of Armenia and against the backdrop of the Tsar’s last days.

Maksymow said there might not be as many films on the schedule as past years, but the quality was higher.

“We have got slightly less films this year, but what we have been able to do is get stronger films for each genre,” he said.

Maksymow said Perth audiences would be treated to a film that has not even had its Russian release yet.

“The Good Boy has not been released in Russia yet, so we are very lucky to get it first,” he said.

“Actually it opens in Russia the same night as it screens in Perth.

“The film has screened at the odd festival, so we approached the producers directly about screening it and they saw it as a bonus for them.”

He said in wanting to appeal to a broad demographic, the festival has been showing animated films since 2007, with their appeal going across generations.

“They are popular with people not only because they are Russian, but because parents can take their kids; people like foreign films but often there is nothing for them to introduce their children to,” he said.

Maksymow named award-nominated The Student, which screened at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, as one of his top choices.

“Flight Crew is another – it is an action-disaster that was number one at the Russian box office – and also Icebreaker, which is a historical drama set in the 1860s and The Duelist, which is based on a true story.”